Baby Boy featured holograms of the star and her dancers performing the track - and midway through Beyonce and her Destiny's Child bandmates rose up from the ground to sing Bootylicious and Independent Women in their first live performance together for five years.

But Rowland and Williams were barely heard when the group sang Independent Woman, as their voices faded into the background.

The pair then left the stage, leaving Beyoncé and an ever-growing army of dancers to perform Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), for which the crowd had been given light-up rings which flashed throughout the song. The set ended with a solo rendition of Halo and the delighted singer expressed her gratitude for the overwhelming applause that greeted the end of her slot.

She said: "Thank y'all!. Thank you so much for this opportunity!"

Meanwhile, before the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys also performed for the crowd.

The former American Idol contestant was joined by 26 members of the Sandy Hook Elementary Choir - the Connecticut school where 20 children and six adults were shot dead in December - for a rendition of America the Beautiful, while Alicia performed a unique version of the US national anthem on grand piano.